Salk News

La Jolla, CA – With the aid of a common virus used to ferry a clotting factor gene into liver cells, a team led by researchers at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies has cured a form of hemophilia in mice.

La Jolla, CA – A computer program developed by a Salk-led team has been trained to distinguish among a number of facial cues, helping to sort false from genuine expressions. What's more, the program performs as well as a psychologist trained to read faces and markedly better than human non-experts.

La Jolla, CA – Can regular exercise strengthen the brain? According to a new Salk study, animals that get regular voluntary exercise on running wheels grow more new brain cells than sedentary counterparts.

La Jolla, CA – Like a sextant that helps guide ships at sea, a specific combination of genes has been identified that directs newly born nerve cells to their final destinations in developing organisms.

La Jolla, CA – Zinc has long been recognized as an essential trace element, and a current study led by Salk Institute investigators shows it to be an integral part of ion channels, structures that regulate communication among nerve cells.

La Jolla, CA – Like bubbles fizzing from fine champagne, it has long been assumed that our supply of brain cells steadily diminishes through our lives, never to be replenished. According to a landmark Salk study, however, new cells are born in human brains, even in mature individuals.